Ladies of the evening...

The night time...when all ladies of ill repute
come up with their best liaisons of the mind,
thoughts wander to strategies of the financial means...
how to best make the moolah...
and satisfy the customer!

We'll be peddling soaps in all shapes and manners...

the boudoir simply must be well stocked!

...especially with the florals...
ohh la la...

We simply must get started on all those projects to make us unique...

Can you visualize soaps displayed in all manner of Victorian decadence...
chamber pots...what else!!!

YUMMY...

Candles in teacups...so very ladylike...
wouldn't you say Madam...

Glorious vignettes propped in every corner...

Yes, I think we're definitely defining our style...
for your pleasure
of course!!!

Junk Whores...

Ahhhh...the life of a junk maiden...
ready to travel the back roads to pedal her goods
wherever the need may be...

WELL.....remember these two fools...

The White Girls...
well, they're getting ready to partner up again...
scary huh!!!

We've decided that we're gonna hit the road...
come Spring we're gonna hit the show circuit
and take our goods on the road...again!

Lorie and I have been packin' and movin' our shit all over the place
for years now...

...we've had the darling shops in Palo and Amana...

...then we packed 'er up again...

...and again...

...did Elkhorn shows...

...had the great lil' shop in LeClaire...

...and Muscatine...

...sweet, huh...

...always seeking...and always finding...
then on to The Junk Asylum, where many junk whores will be found...

BUT...
in the end, it all boils down to the fact that we love what we do...
we're junkers, pickers, if you will...
we ain't famous, but we sure know how to have fun...
yeah, yeah, yeah...I know,
but we have a plan
and we're stickin' to it...!
BE AFRAID!!!

The power to be...in wonderland...

I'm one of those spirits that beats to a different drum...
my blog is one of those blogs that tells it like it is.
I don't just live in a world of white, French or NORMAL ,
I live in a fantasy of aloofness
and free will...

My rabbit hole...sits among crystal fields of dreams
(the tiny white roof in the middle of the 6 acres)
my world of the free wielding power of one...
(plus fuzzball)

My blog tells a story of my struggles,
my triumphs, my dreams and my tragedies(and comedies)...
it shares it with you, my friends and my sisters,
we share the bond
to be bold and
to go where no man has gone before
(warp speed Scotty)

Readers come and they go
comments come and they go
styles come and they go
husbands come and they go...
however,
in my world, it's all a passage
the rites of the Spring spirit
wandering into the unknown
unafraid,
unafraid to write what I feel
and to share it...

...to photograph the beauty from my perspective
Winter and Summer
happy and bitching...
who cares
it's a world of our own making
a delicious dessert to be shared
or hoarded...
makes no matter what
for it's all past tense...
it's the future we seek,
the next day,
the next sunrise,
the next husband
or not...

...it's free will
it's free spirit
it's bra
or no bra
it's life and it tastes delicious...

...like the frosting dripping from my humble pink parfait...

I'm alive and I breathe
I laugh and I cry
and I'm free to
just be...

me!

Dawn calls...from the room at the top of the stairs...

I love how the dawn shines blue through my parlor window,
beckoning me to get on with a days' work...

PILES...
Piles of lampshade frames litter the floor of my workroom upstairs,
like a bone yard, all await my moment of inspiration...

Bundles of vintage trimmings rest in the graveyard
of unfinished projects...

Boxes of fabrics, vintage and new...

...a cupboard filled with the trimmings to decorate the cake
of my fancy...which shall I chose...

...to finish a project, long since set aside,
collecting it's veil of dust,
awaiting its' turn...

...another silently sings for its' turn,
a waltz with the needle,
a symphony yet to be composed...

yes, all await the artists' inspiration...

and the grand finale of a symphony well sung...

It's Winter, the time to finish those projects
that you've harbored guilt for many a day.
I think I shall sew this week...a week of nothingness...
the week after Christmas, what shall one do...
I know,
a Jane Austen video,
a pot of tea
and a sewing basket awaiting with its' veil of dust...
my work awaits, best not keep it hiding
in the room at the top of the stairs...

Snow caps, icicles and bunny trails...

winter love...simple beauty...

the moon is only a spec over the treeline,
but it beholds the splendor...

of a winter wonderland
and frosting dripping from the roof top...

of bunny trails
and human trails,
the 4-lane is empty this early Sunday morn...

but the silent beauty is abundant,
as we walk toward a new year
and hope...

Every man, woman and child...

...deserve to be heard
and free...
regardless of religion
or race
are we not human,
do we not all have five fingers
do we not all breathe the same air
are we not brothers
are we not sisters
let us rejoice of our Mother
and sing for a new day
of harmony
and good will
and peace on this great blue Earth...

Merry Christmas to all


Yeah, yeah, yeah, this was yesterday after the first snow
and the sun peeked through for ONE SECOND!!!
We got another four inches on top of that...ARGH!!!
Such is life in the frozen Nor'lunds...

WHAT!!!

Oh Santa baby...

Well, another Christmas is upon us and Santa is looking a little time-worn,
but the smiles and happy faces of family and friends
again warms our hearts, as this Christmas eve day unfolds.
With another two inches of fresh snow over night,
it's sure to be a white Christmas in Iowa...

The sunrise yesterday was magical,
proof that miracles happen each and every day...
we only need to see with eyes wide open.
Merry Christmas everyone
and best wishes from Iowa!!!

I'll be home for Christmas...Iowa...

So many of us have traveled the miles living far from the homeland,
but when they say there's no place like home...
it has special meaning to many of us.

IOWA...my home sweet home...

Down home folks living off the land,
through every season, hot and cold,
there is a silent beauty...

Home and family,
family helping family through
thick and thin,
through harvest and famine,
through richer and poorer
in sickness and in health...
sounds like a marital commitment...
and it is of sorts.

It is what you make it...
you can call it drudgery
you can call it paradise
it's a world of your own making
good or bad...

...you can see it in technicolor or
you can see it in black and white...
it's all up to you...

You can love it in Winter or
you can love it in summer,
it's still home
and it's beautiful...

No matter how far you travel,
it still lingers in your soul...
the place of your birth
your home sweet home...

Mine is Iowa
and the fertile farmlands spread o'er the plains,
frozen and barren or thawed and fruitful,
it's still the land of my birth
and the love of my humble heart...

HOME...